Our Team
We are a multi-disciplinary team of academics and students in law, data science, and social scientists that conducts research and disseminates data and reports on the Second Chance Gap in expungement and racial disparities in the California Criminal Justice System pursuant to the Racial Justice Act
Colleen Chien
Founder and Director
Colleen V. Chien is a Professor of Law at Berkeley Law School and co-director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. She founded and directs the Paper Prisons Initiative. From 2013-2015 she served as White House Senior Advisor on Intellectual Property and Innovation and she currently serves in a part-time capacity as Marian Croak Distinguished Scholar at the USPTO.
Faculty and Advisors
Navid Shaghaghi
Web Tools Advisor
Navid Shaghaghi is a lecturer and researcher in the department of Mathematics and Computer Science (MCS) of the College of Arts and Sciences, the departments of Computer Science & Engineering (CSEN) and Bioengineering (BIOE) of the School of Engineering, and the department of Information Systems and Analytics (ISA) of the School of Business at Santa Clara University.
Hithesh Bathala
Advisor
Hithesh Sekhar is a software development engineer at Amazon, an Information Systems M.S. graduate, and alum of the Paper Prisons team who continues to support the project.
Jessica Jackson
Special Advisor
Jessica Jackson is an American human rights attorney and Chief Advocacy Officer at REFORM Alliance. She is also the co-founder of #cut50, a national bipartisan effort aimed at reducing America's incarceration rate. She served as the youngest mayor of the city of Mill Valley.
Ellen Kreitzberg
Faculty Advisor
Ellen Kreitzerg is a Emeritus Professor of Law Santa Clara University, and renowned expert on death penalty abolition research and advocacy.
Adam Osmond
Advisor
Adam Osmond, an accountant and data analyst, has spent years collecting and analyzing large public data including criminal data from Connecticut spanning decades. He is passionate about criminal justice reform, as he has witnessed the lasting impact convictions have on the livelihoods of others.
William Sundstrom
Faculty Advisor
Dr. William Sundstrom is the Stephen and Patricia Schott Professor of Economics at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. His research interests include poverty and inequality, the economic history of labor markets, education and related institutions, and the economics of race and gender.
Matthew Stubenberg
Advisor
Matthew Stubenberg is an Innovator in Residence at William S. Richardson School of Law and formerly worked as a researcher at Harvard Law School's Access to Justice Lab. He also created the MDExpungement.com website which has generated over 100,000 petitions for expungement.
Robert Apel
Advisor
Dr. Robert Apel is a criminologist and Professor at Rutgers University-Newark whose research focuses on the intersection of crime, the justice system, and the labor market.
David Ball
Advisor
David Ball is a Professor of Law at Santa Clara Law and a leading cirminal justice scholar. He is currently Co-Chair of the Corrections Committe of the ABA's Criminal Jutice Section and has been an actor, filmaker, and Rhodes scholar.
Law & Research Team
Alyssa Aguilar
Law Alumini
Alyssa is a graduate student from Santa Clara Law. She was the Co-President of the school's Internet Law Student Organization and EQSCU, the school's LGBTQIA+ student organization. She is passionate about the intersection of technology and social justice and believes our criminal justice system should be accessible and barrier free for all.
Jenny Stukenberg
Law Student
Jenny is a law student at Berkeley Law. Prior to Law School, Jenny had a career in Data Science and spent many years volunteering at immigration non-profits. Jenny is interested in economic justice issues and plans to pursue a career enacting consumer-friendly legislation in California.
Bennett Cyphers
Law Student
Bennett Cyphers is a 2nd year law student at Berkeley and a part-time law clerk at the Contra Costa Public Defender's Office. Before that, he was a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where he investigated ad tech and government surveillance.
Audrey Im
Computer Science
Audrey Im is a backend software engineer working for DoorDash with an interest in public policy, looking to leverage her technical acumen for social good.
Ashley Jones
Bachelor of Arts
SF Bay Area native. Passionate about art, law and history.
Alivia Dawson
Bachelor of Arts
Alivia Dawson is a second-year undergraduate student intending to study legal studies at UC Berkeley. She is passionate about reducing racial disparities in the criminal justice system and hopes to one day pursue a successful career in law.
Sarah Michelle Varley
Bachelor of Arts
Sarah Varley, a senior sociology major at UC Berkeley and Regents' and Chancellor's Scholar, aims to attend law school after graduation. After a 15-year hiatus, she returned to school thanks to remote learning and has diverse experience, including running a wolf sanctuary with her fiancé. She continues her work in wolf rescue through her YouTube channel, aspiring to combine animal-assisted healing and criminal justice reform as an attorney.
Alonzo Harvey
Bachelor of Arts
Alonzo Harvey is an undergraduate Political Science major at UC Berkeley, aspiring to become a crime defense lawyer. A father of three, he balances parenting with his role as a data analyst on the Racial Justice Act team at the Criminal Justice Center, led by Chesa Boudin. Formerly incarcerated, Alonzo's personal growth and commitment to justice drive his efforts in analyzing DA policies to support racial equity in the criminal justice system.
Tech Team
Varun Gujarathi
Graduate Student: CSEN
Varun is a CS graduate student at Santa Clara University. He is an excellent problem solver, interested in building great tech and helping the community with his engineering skills. He loves to play table tennis.
Rutuja Pathade
Graduate Student: MIS
Rutuja is interested in contributing to the community with insights that data brings.
Rohit Rathish
Graduate Alumni: CSEN
Rohit is a Computer Science graduate with skills in Data Analytics and Web development.
Shaunak Chaudhary
Graduate Student: CSEN
Shaunak is passionate about applying his technical as well as entrepreneurial skills to develop innovative solutions that can positively impact society.
Max Calcoen
Highschool Fellow
Max is a high school student who is passionate about how technology can promote social justice. He currently attends Head-Royce School in Oakland as a Senior.
Yabo Du
Engineer
Yabo has more than 10 years of experience working in software development & project management. He is focusing on high performance distribution systems, large-scale data processing and Web3 technologies. Yabo also loves SUP, pickle ball and swimming.
Akhil Raj
Graduate Alumni: CSEN
Akhil is a CS alumnus from Santa Clara University.
